Ewals Cargo Care has started testing Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) as a new transportation fuel. LNG is a natural gas which meets the current EURO 6 standards, as driving on LNG provides significant reductions in CO2, sulphur dioxide and nitrogen dioxide emissions, making it more environmentally friendly than diesel. In addition, the engine of an LNG truck is quieter. The gas is stored at minus 162 degrees C, turning it into liquid and making it easy to store and transport in large quantities.

During the test, Ewals Cargo Care used a Scania low-deck LNG truck on the route between Venlo and NL harbours, and the Shell LNG filling stations in Rotterdam and Eindhoven to refuel. The first reviews were very encouraging, The Ewals driver was positively surprised at the performance of the truck, feeling it was similar to a diesel truck. The refueling process is more complicated, taking safety measures into account, but this went smoothly after instructions from Shell.

At the moment, the availability of LNG filling stations is limited. Due to this limitation, the operating range of the low-deck truck is not widespread enough for international use. Regular, relatively short distances can be very beneficial, but to facilitate much longer distance coverage, the LNG network will need to be extended further across Europe. Expectations are that this will happen over the coming years, as well as continuous development of the truck itself.